


Nurture

by SwoodMaxProductions



Series: Bad Things Happen Bingo [1]
Category: Cadence of Hyrule: Crypt of the NecroDancer featuring The Legend of Zelda (Video Game), The Legend of Zelda & Related Fandoms
Genre: Adoption, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Bad Things Happen Bingo, Carrying, Cuddling & Snuggling, Defying Fate, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Exhaustion, Fainting, Fluff and Hurt/Comfort, Gen, Gentleness, Good!Ganondorf, Hair stroking, He’s so smol, Hurt/Comfort, Magical Exhaustion, Maternal Instinct, Platonic Cuddling, Power Strain Blackout, Protectiveness, Sleepy Cuddles, So basically he’s babey, The Gerudo - Freeform, Tinydorf, Unconsciousness, Vulnerability, Young Ganondorf, mama bear - Freeform, or as i like to call him, protect him, so cute
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-01
Updated: 2019-10-01
Packaged: 2020-11-08 18:48:53
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,068
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20840288
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SwoodMaxProductions/pseuds/SwoodMaxProductions
Summary: (Bad Things Happen Bingo prompt: Fainting)After the events of Cadence of Hyrule, Octavo, spared from his death in the future due to the effects of Link, Zelda, and Cadence’s Triforce wish, is a wanted man. His attempts to convince people the threat was real and his actions were justified have caused a civil war to begin among the Gerudo.In which little Prince Ganondorf knocks himself out via magic overload and Barriara takes care of him.





	Nurture

**Author's Note:**

> I couldn’t help it. The idea of a tiny young Ganondorf was just too cute. I love Cadence of Hyrule.

That damn court musician. How could one person cause so much damage?

Thanks to his attempts to “clear his name”, that little weasel had planted the seeds of civil war among her people. Now they were coming after her b— the prince. 

Who was she kidding. He was her boy. She’d known his mother, a nice lady, but way too superstitious for her own good. Always on about how she’d given birth to the death of everyone after she gave her baby up to her. Maybe if she was less superstitious, she’d still be around…

Barriara sighed. Now wasn’t the time for old memories. She had to get back to town. 

Her blood ran cold as she approached the village. The fighting had already begun.

Glaives and swords clashed, lightning sparked through the air. But she had to find him. Where was Prince Ganondorf?! A spot of green caught Barriara’s eye— Link, huddled behind his shield, trying not to fight back against a woman who’d previously been his ally during Octavo’s brief reign.

Princess Zelda had to be close by— she was the one who had warned her of the threat in the first place, the one who had brought Link, Impa, and a few trusted knights to protect the young prince. Blasting aside a former friend with her lightning in the battle toward the young swordsman (Dahlia WHY… You know him, he’s just a kid—!), Barriara was caught off-guard by a brilliant flash and sudden shockwave of magic.

There, in the epicenter of the blast that had vaporized most of Octavo’s small army of monsters let in by the rebels, was Prince Ganondorf, his eyes blazing with golden light, right hand shining and still outstretched. Zelda was with him, staring in awe, subconsciously still reaching out to him. Slowly, the Gerudo Prince’s arm lowered back to his side.

The light from his eyes and hand dissipated into wisps of fiery gold, and for a few seconds, he stood there, swaying slightly on the spot, eyes wide with awe and slightly unfocused.

And then his eyes rolled up in his head, and the young prince slumped backwards into Zelda’s arms. 

The princess of Hyrule, now kneeling with Ganondorf’s head on her lap, looked up to see Barriara dashing over to them.

“GANONDORF!”

Zelda had never seen the Gerudo chief seem so afraid. 

“G… Ganondorf…?”

She was so gentle as she gathered her young charge into her mismatched arms, breathing a sigh of relief at the realization that he was very much alive, shaken up not only by the astounding feat of magic she’d witnessed, but also her knowledge that people had died through overexerting magic. 

Ganondorf, on the other hand, was blissfully unconscious, unaware of the fear and struggles surrounding him. He was completely limp, his head resting pitifully against Barriara’s shoulder as she led her allies to a bunker hidden in the ruins, careful not to disturb the little prince.

The place certainly seemed like a secure location— blast doors, dormant Beamos studding the walls— a perfect place for them to lie low. Barriara knew the bunker well, immediately heading for a room lined with beds, tucking poor Ganondorf in to sleep off his overload-induced fainting spell.

Link and Zelda exchanged worried glances as Barriara used her miniaturized Gossip Stone to contact Impa, who was still on the battlefield. Something seemed so… odd. Not about the situation, but about Ganondorf.

Something in their hearts felt… wrong, a nagging urge telling them Ganondorf was their enemy, no matter what. Wasn’t he?

With every second in the bunker, the two Triforce bearers became more and more sure that the answer was no.

He was so small. Too small. Almost… frail. It was a cruel reminder that no matter what Octavo said, no matter what they had seen in the prevented future, the true Ganondorf, right here and now, was a child. A child who had no idea why people he trusted, people thought he knew, were suddenly trying to have him killed.

Barriara remained at the prince’s side, stroking the sleeping child’s hair for not only his comfort, but her own. It was so uncomfortably surreal, seeing him so deathly still. He didn’t deserve any of this. He was just a kid. He’d just turned eight years old. How could anyone want to hurt him, much less kill him…?

And she wasn’t about to let them. Not over her dead body. She’d already lost his mother. There was no way in hell she was going to lose him, too. 

A few trusted Gerudo trickled in eventually, worry on every aquiline face. It seemed like ages before she heard a soft whimper.

“Gan? Kiddo?”

Barriara gently patted his cheek, and the young prince squirmed weakly, pressing his adorable round face into her touch with a small moan. Slowly, Ganondorf opened his eyes.

“Hey…! Hey, you’re okay…!”

“Wh…”

“You passed out. Scared me half to death... I’m just glad you’re okay…!”

“I…”

Realization dawned on the young boy’s face as he remembered some of the events leading up to his loss of consciousness. 

“Barriara… wha’ happ’n’d?”

“You… you used an incredible amount of magic, all at once.”

“N-no, not that…” he murmured, trying to gather his thoughts through the lifting fog of unconsciousness, “Before…”

Barriara’s relieved smile quickly faded. She knew exactly what he meant. And it chilled her to the core. How should you explain a fate-obsessed preemptive assassination attempt to an eight-year-old?

“...Remember that jerk with the lute? The one that put me to sleep?” she began.

“Yeah…”

“Well… he apparently thinks that… killing you… will keep the law away from him after everything he did.”

The confusion in the boy’s bleary eyes broke her heart.

“Why…?”

Barriara sighed.

“Because he’s nuttier than a treeful of squirrels and he’s tryin’ to make people believe in the same crap that he does.”

She gently placed her organic hand on Ganondorf’s shoulder.

“Ganondorf, I want you to know that who you are is more important than legends. I want you to know that I love you more than anything in the world. And I want you to know that we can get through this.”

The young prince sleepily leaned into her touch. It was all Barriara could do not to break down into tears. But she had work to do.

She had a war to stop, and a son to protect.

  
  
  


**Author's Note:**

> I wasn’t sure if it warranted a warning or not, but yes, the combined implications of some of Barriara’s musings are referencing that Tinydorf’s birth mother committed suicide shortly after leaving him with Barriara...
> 
> But, on a happier note...
> 
> *Wilford Brimley voice* I think I just gave myself the diabeetus.


End file.
